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Materials and Methods
Analyzing Russian folk tales from the collection of the compiler A.N. Afanasyev, it was revealed that Baba
Yaga is a multifaceted image. Traditionally, she is regarded as a warrior, and sometimes acts as a giver,
benefactor, helper of the hero.[1, 133] The evil Baba Yaga scares children (promises to cook and eat),
punishes (makes them do hard work), kidnaps children from the family (with the help of animals) and so on.
A person who gets to Baba Yaga is always in danger of death, but ingenuity and resourcefulness save him. In
fairy tales, Yaga is at enmity with people – people are looking for salvation from her.
CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE
Volume: 03 Issue: 04 | April 2022
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ISSN: 2660-6828
© 2022, CAJLPC, Central Asian Studies, All Rights Reserved
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Kind Baba Yaga helps people (gives advice, shows the way), protects (gives magical things that protect
people), contributes to the triumph of good (rewards good people and punishes evil ones). Baba Yaga is the
mistress of animals and various forest creatures. The very dwelling of Yaga is surrounded in fairy tales by
mystery. She lives in a remote forest in a hut on chicken legs, so far from all living things, where even crows
do not bring bones. The hut is surrounded by a fence of human bones with skulls on poles. On the gate instead
of constipation - hands. Instead of a lock, a mouth with sharp teeth. The hut of Baba Yaga can turn around its
axis, but basically it is turned to the forest in front, to "this world" with its back. To get into the hut, the hero
needs to cast a spell: "Stand up the old way, as your mother set! Back to the forest, front to me."
Baba Yaga greets those entering his strange dwelling with a snort: "Fu-fu fu! Before the Russian spirit has
never been heard of, the view has not been seen..." So she meets unexpected guests for the reason that she
herself belongs to another world hostile to people. Yaga cannot stand the smell of a living person, it's
disgusting and scary to her.
Baba Yaga is a dead man. She lies in her cramped hut as if in a coffin. The fact that Yaga is a dead man, says
her bone leg. Baba Yaga is blind: she doesn't see the hero, but she can smell him. In particular, the following
description is common: Baba Yaga, a bone leg, sits "on the stove, on the ninth brick," and she has "teeth on
the shelf, and her nose has grown into the ceiling." To people of a distant time, the afterlife of their deceased
ancestors in the female line seemed exactly like this. Thus, Baba Yaga was considered a calm ancestor. It was
believed that, having passed away, she patronized her kind-tribe. Her memory was honored and thus they
thought that they were enlisting her support. That's why Baba Yaga gives people good advice instead of just
reverence. For this she repays with kindness.[2, 97]
Baba Yaga can act both as a pest (then she tries to destroy the hero or heroine who came to her for one reason
or another), and as a donor (then she, after questioning the hero, steaming him in the bath and feeding him,
gives the necessary thing or gives the necessary information). Often the hero gets to three sisters in turn and
receives the necessary help only from the last Baba Yaga.
Baba Yaga has a special power given by nature. She can turn into a goat, a bear, a magpie and other different
animals and birds. There are a lot of animal traits in it. A hut - and that one on chicken legs. It can be noted
that the main activity of Baba Yaga is due to her close relationship with wild animals and the forest. She lives
in a deaf thicket, animals and birds obey her. Therefore, we can connect the origin of Baba Yaga with the
image of the mistress of animals and the world of the dead, common in fairy tales and myths of many peoples.
So, it is easy to notice that in the image of Baba Yaga, the features of many ancient characters are combined.
Therefore, the functions that Baba Yaga performs in different plots are so different.
The cult of the female ancestor gave way to the cult of the male ancestor. And once a respected being, Baba
Yaga turned into a witch. It inspires horror and disgust, acts against people. Yaga was endowed with the
features of a cannibal, an evil warrior, a kidnapper of children.
There are a lot of ditties about Baba Yaga, where her image and appearance are described:
Баба-Яга – костяная нога.
С печки упала – ногу сломала.
Пошла в огород – испугала народ.
Побежала в баньку – испугала зайку [3,176]
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